Granite Mountain

Yesterday Patrick, Rich, Marcel and I set out to climb Granite Mountain, a peak that is visible from Camp Stevens and sits at the westernmost edge of the desert, very close to the Volcan and Cuyamaca Mountains. The climb looks pretty serious on paper: 7 miles, 7 hours, 3200 feet elevation gain, off trail, bouldering, etc. It definitely lived up to our expectations.

The climb started in Cool Canyon, on the east side of the mountain near the Shelter Valley community on the road out to Agua Caliente. The path took us about a mile up a wash through a narrow canyon, scaling short dry waterfalls and walking in between narrow canyon walls.

After scaling a 15 foot fall, we started climbing up a long ridge covered with cholla, prickly pear and beavertail cacti as well as an assortment of shrub and granite boulders. After walking the long summit ridge to what looked like a quite imposing saddle peak, we realized just how much further we had to go and how difficult it would be. On the way up we ran into a few boulders that needed climbing to get past. I slipped on one of them, used much of the skin on my forearms and knees to arrest my fall, and scampered up to the top to lick my wounds.

From our perch at the saddle we could see that there were a few more peaks to cover, all of them covered in large granite boulders with cacti and pinyon interspersed. Finding our way up was a combination of climbing, steep hiking and pressing our way through sharp branches while avoiding getting stuck by cacti. The phrase of the day was "everything in the desert wants to kill you."

After climbing a few false summits and drinking water out of depressions in the rocks and snow hidden under boulders we finally made the summit, which gave some amazing views of the area surrounding the mountain. One of the things that has continued to interest me about this area is how quickly it transitions from cold and wet oak/pine forests in the Cuyamaca/Volcan Mountain area into arid desert in Earthquake, Vallecito and Shelter Valleys. Volcan Mountain, which is entirely green and topped with a dusting of snow, drops off about 2000 feet into Earthquake Valley and the deserts that extend for hundreds of miles to the east. It was also cool to see the little town of Julian perched atop a mountain range that looked massive compared to the low, dry valleys to the east.

The trek back down was equally challenging given that our legs were exhausted, we were out of water, and downclimbing decomposing granite presents a difficult climbing surface. Patrick and I bombed down the mountain, with Marcel and Rich close behind. By the time we reached the bottom, we had been climbing/hiking for about 7 hours and were wiped out.

Oh ya, I work for the federal government...

This whole thing with the federal budget over the last week has been rather stressful here at Camp Stevens. Silver 4 is on loan to our camp for the week from their project, and for the last week Coli (the S4 TL) and I have been fielding questions from CMs about what would happen if the government shut down. To be completely honest, I had no idea what to tell them because we had no information about NCCC's contingency plan, what would happen with our sponsors, what staff would stay on in the case of a shutdown, and what our fate would be for the rest of the year. I got to play the fun game of treading between being reassuring and managing expectations.

Friday afternoon the TLs received a text calling for a conference call. On the call we were told that if there was a shutdown then the teams would all be recalled to campus and would stay there until a new budget was passed, or it became impossible for them to keep us there. Beyond that, there was really no information about what our fate would be, or at what point in a shutdown the class would be scrapped and people would be sent home. Basically, we were promised food, housing and medical benefits. To add to all of this, Amanda's parents arrived to take us all out to dinner and take Amanda into San Diego for the weekend until Monday night. Given that our marching orders in the event of a shutdown were to pack up and be back in Sacramento by Sunday at 7 PM, this presented a problem. I got to tell them the deal, have them promise not to tell anyone because it was not supposed to be common knowledge, and then refresh the CNN page at the dinner table to see whether Congress would put something together.

In true NCCC fashion, life went on. Today we finished the trail work that we started at the beginning of the week, putting in over a mile of trails over some pretty serious terrain. We also had a raging burn pile once we got the fire going with brush that had 2 inches of snow on it from the previous night. Tomorrow we're planning on climbing Granite Peak, which is out in the desert and presents a 3000' gain over only 3.5 miles. SHould be interesting and hopefully beautiful.

Mid-Round at Camp Stevens

The good times keep on rolling here at Camp Stevens. Today was the conclusion of another week-long outdoor education group consisting entirely of 12-year old boys and girls. As they packed and cleaned out the yurts in which we normally live, and we moved down from the aptly-named Bishop’s Lodge, I witnessed an argument that I found equally infuriating, hilarious, and reminiscent of certain interactions that I’ve had with my siblings (Sarah and Eric will agree). As we moved our things into the yurts, two boys were going back and forth at each other in the middle of a room with 5 or 6 of their classmates half packing, half watching the action. One had been brandishing a squirt bottle full of glass cleaner at the other, playfully (or not?) threatening to spray him with it. When the other boy had enough of it, he lunged forward to grab at the squirt bottle, squeezing it and spraying himself in the face. Over the next 15 minutes, as I moved back and forth from the lodge to the yurts with my possessions, I caught essentially the same accusation of “he sprayed me on purpose” and the requisite defense of “I wasn’t going to do it, he only thought that I was going to.” Although I was pissed off at the banality of their argument, and the fact that the debate has remained essentially unchanged over the course of 15 minutes, I couldn’t help but realize that I have had many of those same kinds of arguments with many different people. That is, arguments in which I’m absolutely certain that I’m right, and rather than admitting fault (if only for the sake of ending the damn argument) have continued to proclaim my innocence and to vilify my opponent. It was a little weird to see little 12-year old versions of myself, and to see how annoying their behavior was. Sorry Mom and Dad.

            In other news, we’ll be having a guest team in camp this week. Silver 4 is working at a camp about 2 miles from Camp Stevens, and has been kicked out for about 5 days. Well, not exactly “kicked out.” They have a group coming that has asked for the entire camp, and the team has to leave and won’t be able to work there at all. This wouldn’t have been such a problem if they had mentioned anything about it prior to, say, 2 weeks ago. They’ll be coming over on Wednesday afternoon and staying until Sunday afternoon. I’m actually very excited about it, because I enjoy the team leader’s company and we can always use extra hands to move brush and work on trailbuilding. Oh, and we’ll get to show off the sweet digs that we’ve got going here. Honestly, I’ve almost forgotten how to cook. The most cooking that I’ve had to do in the last 4 weeks is to roast hotdogs, toast bread, and occasionally microwave leftovers. Today’s lunch was grilled cheese (focaccia bread and some magically concoction of cheeses) with ginger tomato soup, green salad, and my standard mix of banana and chocolate chips. This place is great.

            On top of that, over the last two days I’ve cut down about 15 trees, stacked the brush and piled the logs by the road. Over the last month we’ve made a huge impact in the landscape around the boys and girls camping areas, removing many of the trees and much of the brush that presented a fire hazard to the buildings there. It’s great to know that the work we’re doing will have a real long-term impact on the safety of the buildings and people at camp. I’ve also selected a number of hikes that I’m looking to do over the next month while we’re in San Diego County. I’m looking at doing Granite Peak, which is about 11 miles and 3000’ feet of elevation including some bushwhacking and bouldering. Should be a blast!